Department of Mechanical Engineering
Learn to make anything.
Mechanical engineering is essential to the design and manufacture of nearly every product in our modern world. From your first project on the CNC mill in the Computer-Aided Manufacturing and Prototyping Lab to the possibility of designing thermofluid systems for effective energy use in the Microscale Heat Transfer Laboratory or expanding the capabilities of our NASA satellites and seafaring submersibles, you’ll have significant opportunities to put concept into practice, often working at the leading edge of the field.
Whether you get your B.S., Master's, or Ph.D in the department, you’ll develop your creative and technical skills from faculty members who’ve worked for industry giants and have received millions in support of their research.
We train our students to think across disciplines, while also solving very specialized problems. You’ll be prepared to work in research and development, product design, or materials engineering at top firms in and beyond the Bay Area.
Our department presented the following presentation at the Mechanical Engineering Alumni Event on May 24, 2018.
Eleven MECH undergraduate students were inducted to Pi Tau Sigma, the National Mechanical Engineering Honor Society, in February 2018.
Pi Tau Sigma members with the inductees.
Back Row: Steven Parks ('18), Jamie Ferris ('19), Andrew Torrance ('19), Evan Misuraca ('19), Kayleigh Dobson ('19), Brent Hosoume ('19), Grant Mishler ('18)
Front Row: Corey Brown ('18), Leslie Yang ('18), Riley Albright-Borden ('19), Jonathan Borst ('19), Michael Mehta ('19), Hannah Sisney ('19), PJ McCurdy ('19), Milan Copic ('18)
Not Pictured: Chuck Culberson ('19)
Congratulations to Dr. Panthea Sepehrband for receiving a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. This $328,975 grant supports Dr. Sepehrband’s research to investigate how ultrasonic bonding occurs at the atomic level. Read the story here.
Mission Control on NBC News: Students, staff, and faculty in the Robotic Systems Laboratory (RSL) spent their Thanksgiving vacation working midnight shifts and controlling the newly launched NASA EcAMSat spacecraft, which was ejected from the International Space Station just after midnight on Nov. 20. These activities have included making initial contact with the spacecraft, verifying and characterizing its health, and working with the NASA Ames Research Center team to monitor and retrieve science data relating to the experimental biological payload. The experiment involves assessing the space microgravity effects on the antibiotic resistance of E. coli. The SCU team is using RSL's satellite command and control network, which includes a primary Mission Control Center on the 3rd Floor of Guadalupe Hall as well as several types of satellite communication stations both on the roof of Guadalupe Hall and distributed at partner institutions across the country. Find out more about the mission here.
Open House for senior design projects is Wednesday, June 7th in the Engineering Quad from 4:00 to 5:30 pm. Come and see what our seniors have been working on for the past year!
Congratulations to our undergraduate MECH students Sydney Thompson '19 and Steven Parks '18 selected as Leavey School of Business Global Fellows: https://www.scu.edu/business/undergraduates/community/global-fellows/.
- Sydney plans to serve underprivileged children, youth and women in the rural areas of Ghana through social enterprise and education; Steven plans to enhance the study of energy economics to support national policies and the utilization of energy resources in Indonesia. See a list of 2017 Global Fellows here: https://www.scu.edu/business/undergraduates/community/global-fellows/2017-fellows/.
- Mechanical Engineering Seminar: Tung Lam will present a seminar “Thermal Engineering For Space Applications” on Wednesday, March 15, 2017. The seminar abstract and speaker biography can be found here: Seminar Tung Lam
- Mechanical Engineering Seminar: Michael Plesniak will present a seminar “Human Phonation: Fluid Dynamics of Speech Production” on Wednesday, March 8, 2017. The seminar abstract and speaker biography can be found here: Michael Plesniak
- Mechanical Engineering Seminar: Tianzhen Hong will present a seminar “Building Performance Simulation for Buildings and Communities: Advances and Challenges ” on Wednesday, March 1, 2017. The seminar abstract and speaker biography can be found here: Seminar Tianzhen Hong
- Mechanical Engineering Seminar: Peter Woytowitz will present a seminar “Printing the Next Revolution - Materials, Software and Additive Manufacturing” on Wednesday, February 22, 2017. The seminar abstract and speaker biography can be found here: Seminar_Pete_Woytowitz
- Mechanical Engineering Seminar: Sean Swei will present a seminar “Some Advances in Aeroelastic Aircraft and Flexible Spacecraft Controls” on Wednesday, February 15, 2017. The seminar abstract and speaker biography can be found here: Seminar Sean Swei
- Mechanical Engineering Seminar: Dr. Christina Ivler will present a seminar “Aircraft and Rotorcraft Flight Control Challenges: An overview of flight control research at the US Army Aviation Development Directorate at NASA Ames” on Wednesday, February 8, 2017. The seminar abstract and speaker biography can be found here: Seminar Christina Ivler
- Mechanical Engineering Seminar: Daniel A. Fletcher will present a seminar “Mobile phones as medical devices: Diagnosis of neglected diseases and beyond” on Wednesday, February 1, 2017. The seminar abstract and speaker biography can be found here: Seminar Dan Fletcher
- Mechanical Engineering Seminar: Alex Egeler will present a seminar “Aerion AS2 Supersonic Business Jet: Design and Engineering Overview” on Wednesday, January 25, 2017. The seminar abstract and speaker biography can be found here: Seminar Alex Egeler
- Mechanical Engineering Seminar: Liz Osborne from Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company will present a seminar “Thermal Science for Space featuring the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam)” on Wednesday, January 18, 2017. Please find the seminar abstract and speaker biography here: Seminar Liz Osborne
- Mechanical Engineering Seminar: Joe Maly and Brad Allen from Moog CSA will present a seminar “Engineering at Moog CSA, Histories and achievements of the past decades” on Wednesday, January 11, 2017. The seminar abstract and speaker biography can be found here: Seminar Maly Allen
New MECH Courses offering in Spring 2017
MECH/AMTH 120 - Engineering Mathematics MECH120 Flyer
MECH 163 - Material Selection and Design MECH 163 Flyer
MECH 296A - System Identification MECH296A Flyer
MECH 296B - Optimal Estimation of Dynamic Systems MECH296B Flyer
Pi Tau Sigma Induction
Nine MECH undergraduate students were inducted to Pi Tau Sigma, the National Mechanical Engineering Honor Society, in January 2017.
The Santa Clara Chapter President and Vice-President with the inductees (from left to right): Corey Brown, Duncan Bradley, Milan Copic, Grant Mishler, Jake Ososke (President), David Leonardo, Daniel Eckstein, Kevin Ellis, Leslie Yang, Steven Parks, Emily Takimoto (Vice-President)
Mechanical Engineering Seminar: Eliot Fried, Professor at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University, presented a seminar “Finite-time singularity during the collision of two magnetic balls," on November 15, 2016.
In Memory of Dr. Mark Ardema: We are saddened to report that Mark Ardema, Professor Emeritus in Mechanical Engineering, has died at the age of 75. A world authority on dynamics, trajectory optimization, singular perturbation theory, game theory and hypersonic aircraft trajectories and structures, he served as department chair from 1986-98, after which he returned to the classroom to teach full-time. Mark retired at the end of 2007, he had served SCU and the department for over 20 years. Letters of condolence may be sent to the Ardema family in care of the Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Tiny House Wins Big!
Oct 2016
SCU's rEvolve House team was named the champion of the inaugural Tiny House Competition in Sacramento! Santa Clara led the competition throughout the week in measured contests and on the final day of competition, they won six of the twenty sub-categories (day lighting, integrated lighting, interior design, best kitchen, best program, and best tour) and two of the four main categories (energy and communications).
Congratulations to faculty team leader Professor Tim Hight, student project leader JJ Galvin and the entire undergraduate team. Their hard work and dedication to this project over the past two years has been inspirational and a great credit to our beloved Papa Reites. He would be so very proud, as we all are.
Read more about the team's journey and news here:
https://www.scu.edu/engineering/stories/tiny-house-blog.html
http://www.curbed.com/2016/10/20/13338338/tiny-house-eco-friendly-solar-powered-competition-smud
http://www.eastbaytimes.com/2016/10/05/competition-taps-tiny-house-craze/
Seniors Won 2nd Place in Best Paper Contest at IEEE GHTC Conference
Oct 2016
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An interdisciplinary team of mechanical engineering and bioengineering seniors has won the second place in the Best Student Paper Contest for "Quantification of a Latex Aggluntination Assay for Bacterial Pathogen Detection in a Low-Cost Capillary-Driven Fluidic Platform" at the IEEE Global Humanitarian Technology Conference (GHTC 2016), Oct. 13-16 in Seattle, WA.
Congratulations to seniors Kyle Pietrzyk, Andy Ly, Andres Maldonado-Liu (mechanical engineering), Scott Fukuoka (bioengineering), and the faculty advisors Professor On Shun Pak (mechanical engineering) and Professor Unyoung Kim (bioengineering).
Chris Kitts and his team awarded NASA Group Achievement Award
September 2016
Mechanical engineering faculty Professor Christopher Kitts, research associate Mike Rasay, and the Robotics Systems Lab student satellite mission control team are co-recipients of a NASA Group Achievement Award for their contributions to the Edison Demonstration of Smallsat Networks (EDSN) multi-satellite mission. SCU students, staff, and faculty were involved with mission analysis and engineering for the development of the 8-satellite EDSN mission for several years. The EDSN satellites launched in November 2015 and unfortunately were lost during a launch vehicle mishap. Two of the EDSN back-up satellites, however, were launched in 2016 and have successfully demonstrated several EDSN mission objectives. These two satellites are still being controlled by SCU students via the satellite mission control center in Guadalupe Hall.
Mohammad Ayoubi named an ASME Fellow
September 2016
Professor Mohammad Ayoubi (mechanical engineering) has been named an ASME Fellow in recognition of his significant engineering achievements in dynamics and control of aerospace vehicles, curriculum development, and service to his professional society. Nominated by ASME members and fellows, an ASME member has to have 10 or more years of active practice, at least 10 years of active corporate membership in ASME, and have significant achievements in the field of engineering, according to the ASME website. This achievement is reserved for only 2.8% of ASME's 140,000 members.
With this honor, Ayoubi joins fellow mechanical engineering faculty who have been honored by ASME: Fellows Christopher Kitts and Godfrey Mungal, as well as Honorary Member Terry Shoup.